The kinds of proof and the certain premises

Proof and conclusion · aqsām al-ḥujja · p. 30

أَقْسَامُ الْحُجَّةِ

پیش‌نویس · در انتظار بازبینی

Arabic text after the print of Jakarta 1434/2013 · translation by The Mantiqi, draft

About this text

al-Sullam al-munawraq السُّلَّمُ الْمُنَوْرَقُ

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Akhḍarī (d. 983/1575)

Text: Arabic, transcribed by The Mantiqi from this print: Mutūn al-manṭiq wa-l-ḥikma: Īsāghūjī wa-l-Sullam al-munawraq, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, Jakarta 1434/2013, pp. 20–32 View the scan
Lessons follow: The lessons are The Mantiqi's own explanations, chapter by chapter of the text itself.
Translation: The Mantiqi's own; a draft.
Review: Draft, awaiting review by Ustadh Muhammad Yusuf.

The text

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Arabic original, Mutūn al-manṭiq wa-l-ḥikma: Īsāghūjī wa-l-Sullam al-munawraq, Jakarta 1434/2013

وَحُجَّةٌ نَقْلِيَّةٌ عَقْلِيَّهْأَقْسَامُ هٰذِي خَمْسَةٌ جَلِيَّهْ

خَطَابَةٌ شِعْرٌ وَبُرْهَانٌ جَدَلْوَخَامِسٌ سَفْسَطَةٌ نِلْتَ الْأَمَلْ

أَجَلُّهَا الْبُرْهَانُ مَا أُلِّفَ مِنْمُقَدِّمَاتٍ بِالْيَقِينِ تَقْتَرِنْ

Proof is transmitted or rational; the kinds of the latter are five, clear: rhetoric, poetry, demonstration, dialectic, and the fifth, sophistry — you have reached your hope. The noblest of them is demonstration: what is composed of premises joined to certainty,

Google Translate ↗p. 30

مِنْ أَوَّلِيَّاتٍ مُشَاهَدَاتِمُجَرَّبَاتٍ مُتَوَاتِرَاتِ

وَحَدْسِيَّاتٍ وَمَحْسُوسَاتِفَتِلْكَ جُمْلَةُ الْيَقِينِيَّاتِ

وَفِي دَلَالَةِ الْمُقَدِّمَاتِعَلَى النَّتِيجَةِ خِلَافٌ آتِ

عَقْلِيٌّ اَوْ عَادِيٌّ اَوْ تَوَلُّدُأَوْ وَاجِبٌ وَالْأَوَّلُ الْمُؤَيَّدُ

from first principles, things witnessed, things tested by experience, things reported by many, things grasped by intuition and things sensed: these are all the certain premises. On how premises point to the conclusion there is disagreement: rational, customary, by generation, or necessary — and the first is the one supported.

Google Translate ↗p. 30

The lesson

A proof is transmitted (naqlī) or rational (ʿaqlī). Rational proofs are of five kinds, the : , poetry, , and . The noblest is demonstration (burhān): a proof built of .

The are six: (awwaliyyāt), things witnessed inwardly (mushāhadāt), things tested by experience (mujarrabāt), reports by so many that error is excluded (mutawātirāt), things grasped by intuition (ḥadsiyyāt) and things sensed (maḥsūsāt). On how the yield the there are four views — by the intellect, by God's custom, by generation, or by necessary causation — and the poem supports the first.

Terms

الْبُرْهَانُ al-burhān: demonstration: from certain premises
الْخَطَابَةُ / الشِّعْرُ / الْجَدَلُ / السَّفْسَطَةُ al-khaṭāba / al-shiʿr / al-jadal / al-safsaṭa: rhetoric / poetry / dialectic / sophistry
الْأَوَّلِيَّاتُ al-awwaliyyāt: first principles
الْمُتَوَاتِرَاتُ al-mutawātirāt: what is reported by very many
الْحَدْسِيَّاتُ al-ḥadsiyyāt: what is grasped by intuition

Examples

الْكُلُّ أَعْظَمُ مِنَ الْجُزْءِ
“the whole is greater than the part”: a first principle

خودت را بیازما

3 questions on this lesson. With 6 out of 10 or more (two stars) the next lesson opens.

پرسش 1
Which is the noblest of the five arts?
پرسش 2
“The whole is greater than its part” belongs to…
پرسش 3
Which view on how premises yield the conclusion does the poem support?

درس بعدی: Errors in proof, and the close of the poem

ادامه ←